


Take Me Home

by Bythoseburningembers



Series: When supernovas collide [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Protective Allura (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Team as Family, The Champion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22456768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bythoseburningembers/pseuds/Bythoseburningembers
Summary: The Voltron paladins are captured during a mission. Allura and Shiro struggle to get them back, but first they have to make it past Sendak's forces.
Relationships: Allura & Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: When supernovas collide [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1221479
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14
Collections: When We Were Birds





	1. Chapter 1

Lance could have been a singer.

Mama had signed him up for classes when he was younger, fawning over the idea of someone in their family becoming an artist. Most of his older siblings had gone into the sciences, and he suspected his younger siblings might do the same. _“But you,”_ his mother had cooed over his six-year-old self, pecking his cheek. _“Can be a singer. An artist. Your voice is beautiful, mi jo.”_

He had tried. When he was little, he had put his outgoing personality and charm into his voice, he had bellowed while cleaning dishes and playing soccer. However, his family’s curse and blessings had been passed to him. When Lance was thirteen, his dream of ascending to the stage had made way for aspirations of dancing among the clouds. Of serving his family a different way.

Mama had been sad; but resigned.

Since that day, Lance hadn’t done much more than hum snippets of the songs he once loved. He was kinda embarrassed by it now. In the Garrison, the arts -music, poetry, dancing- had been looked down upon. It wasn’t real work. Just some ancient impulses disguised as inspiration. Creativity came from manipulating metal and math, from shooting through the sky.

So he’d reined in his voice, but now… What else was there to do?

 _I doubt they’ll mind,_ he thought, a little bitterly. There were only droids outside his cell, and Lance had tried talking, shouting, screaming at them. They never responded.

 _No one_ ever responded.

Fingers trembling, Lance lifted his hand to begin clapping. The movement sent jolts of agony through his wrist and arms. The shackles were so heavy that even lifting his wrists made him ache, but Lance gritted his teeth and raised them anyway. A tiny act of defiance against his captors.

Maybe he would break. Eventually he would break. But he would go down singing.

He could only raise his hands mid-chest, the chains jangling softly as they were lifted. They connected to a bolt sitting at his feet. He had been chained to the floor like _a dog,_ unable to stand or move more than a few steps to either side.

The cell was so cold that when he clapped, it sent tingles of heat through his palms. Lance groaned. He had assumed that when he stopped shivering a few hours earlier, he wouldn’t be able to feel his fingers or palms ever again. Wasn’t that what happened to hypothermic limbs?

“What I’ve learned from the ocean,” he pushed past his chapped and frozen lips. He was barely singing, more like croaking. But at least it was sound. He hadn’t spoken to another living being in three days, chained to the floor in light so dim he hardly remembered the brightness of say, _a sun_. “Are to rejoice in the moment, let the sun have its sky. The moon will come.”

Shiro’s agonized voice filtered through his mind. _“I’ll find you guys. No matter how long it takes. No matter what I have to do. I swear I will get to you.”_

Lance’s lips quirked into a sad smile. Something wet and hot trickled down his cheek, but the chains prevented him from swiping it away himself. There were many ways of humiliation.

“What I’ve learned from a soldier, every man comes from a daughter and we only remember when we meet death…” The words caught in his throat. When Lance had woken up (hours, days, weeks?) after capture, he had screamed. He had bashed his fists against the floor and walls, raged in a voice that danced the line of begging.

When that hadn’t elicited a response, he had sunk against the wall and curled into himself, contemplating his fate aloud. How long had it been since he had been captured? What would the Hestites do to them? Would he be tortured? Where were the others? Had they all been killed? Had Shiro been captured after all, the Castle destroyed? _They wouldn’t leave us here, would they?_ had turned quickly to _they wouldn’t abandon **me** here, would they?_

He had yet to receive an answer to any of those worries.

“What I’ve learned from a traveler, there’s no road to Paradise. There’s a universe waiting to be discovered, but home is love.”

He just wanted to _go home._

To the Castle, to Earth, to wherever he was safe. Lance yearned to let his guard down so bad it brought tears to his eyes again. He kept his gaze locked on the door, back arched and muscles tense. And to think, it had been such a simple mission. They were supposed to protect Prime Minister Reesh and his cabinet from rebels and Galra assassins.

The Galra had sent spies and saboteurs to their planet, spreading lies and propaganda to encourage a coup. Allura had explained the method with a tone dripping with contempt. _“It is especially efficient in the cases of the hestites,” she growled._

_“They just finished a 3oo year Civil War,” Coran explained. “Prime Minister Reesh is the first democratically elected ruler in centuries. No wonder the Galra haven’t touched their planet yet. They’ve been waiting for them to destroy themselves, and since that hasn’t happened, they’ll send in spies to destabilize the government and economy. Then how will the people fight back?”_

It was a stealth mission. The Lions had been left in their hangars. The Paladins had landed in the Capital City, evacuated Reesh and his aids, and rushed them to the safety of the countryside. Above, Coran and Allura held off the small Galra fleet that had arrived to claim their victory. 

It had been a stressful few weeks of ducking and hiding, clapping their hands over each other’s mouths, stepping lightly over fallen leaves, barely speaking except to snap out information or commands. The fifth day in the small safehouse was… When it happened.

They had been overwhelmed. Pidge and Hunk, keeping watch on the roof, had been captured first as the rebels ambushed them from behind. Lance still shuddered as their cries -his _friends’_ cries- of surprise and pain shattered in his mind. Shiro, who had been ferrying individuals to safety all night, returned just as Keith and Lance were being swarmed on all sides. 

_“Go! Shiro, get out of here!” He recalled Keith screaming just as his sword was smacked from his grip by a well-placed shot. Lance returned the favor; and felt a dark satisfaction when he caught the other sniper in the shoulder._

_No one got away with shooting at his friends._

_Shiro, hiding in the foliage above, began sprinting toward them. “I won’t leave you guys!”_

_“There’s no choice!” Keith growled._

_Lance cried out as he was suddenly tackled. He went sprawling to the ground, kicking until the weight lifted from him. He couldn’t see Keith through the melee. Had lost sight of Shiro, but he knew they could still hear him. Knew someone was still there._

_“Come back for us later!”_

Lance had never heard Shiro near tears before, and he never wanted to hear it again. His warbling voice had cut through even the frantic hammering of Lance’s heart. “ _I’ll find you guys. No matter how long it takes. No matter what I have to do. I swear I will get to you.”_

And so, Lance waited, and sung. And waited, either for death or rescue. “What I‘ve learned from a mirror, look too hard and you’ll find yourself a stranger. Love is the only decision. The choice is yours…”


	2. Chapter Two

Shiro’s stratagem board was a maze of dots and holographic ships. Allura’s eyes traced the lines and notes scribbled into the margins of the screen. The bright lights sent stabbing pain into her eyes every few seconds. The bridge was dark otherwise. The only noise came from Shiro, who had dozed off in his chair sometime earlier. He lay draped over the console, making the screen twitch every few seconds as his breath stirred the buttons.

Allura hoped he would stay asleep. The dark circles beneath his eyes testified to his need for meaningful rest. Besides, she wasn’t ready to handle his desperate focus again so soon. Not that she was any better.

It had been five varga since she had lost the other Paladins. None of them had slept in that time. Coran was probably draped over some table somewhere too. He and Slav had tirelessly dedicated themselves to finding a way to integrate Pidge’s cloaking technology into The Black Lion, but without Pidge or Hunk there…

They just weren’t good enough.

Shiro, meanwhile, had concocted at least four hundred battle strategies for getting unto the planet, locating the Paladin’s and freeing them from the clutches of the rebel Hestites. None of them were viable.

 _We can’t even negotiate with the Galra,_ she thought. They hadn’t taken the Paladins. It was the people they had been trying to save that… Allura sighed and massaged her temple. They were not leaving this system until they had all the Paladin’s in their custody. She had already decided that, and not only because then Voltron would be void.

Pidge, Hunk, Keith, Lance… They were each so brave and selfless. They didn’t deserve this, and she would save them if the it was the last thing she did. The question was, how? Allura sighed heavily, wrapped her arms around herself to stave off a sudden chill.

Behind her, Shiro moaned quietly. Allura turned, and her heart plummeted. Shiro’s brows were furrowed tightly, his jaw tense as he ground his teeth. The muscles of his shoulder and back had stiffened, and his prosthetic fingers twitched agitatedly as if reaching for something.

Nightmare.

Allura took a step forward uncertainly. She had heard the others whispering about Shiro’s night terrors, but so far as she knew, only Keith knew how to handle them safely. She didn’t delude herself into thinking that she could compare in Shiro’s eyes, but perhaps…?

“N-no,” Shiro whispered breathlessly. “Don’t. N-no… _please,”_ he begged. Allura halted mid-stride, paralyzed. She had never heard Shiro sound so vulnerable, so terrified. _What have the Galra **done** to you?_ She thought.

“Please… Stop, d-don’t… don’t hurt them. They’re just _kids…_ Please,” his arm flickered deep purple, then died down again. He turned his head, whimpering. Allura swallowed past the lump in her throat. Of course he wouldn’t be dreaming about his own horrors. He was dreaming of _theirs._

Allura shook herself free of her guilt. “Shiro!” she hissed. “Shiro, wake up!” she didn’t dare touch him in the middle of a dream like this. It was very likely he could kill her accidentally, and Shiro didn’t need more bad dreams.

He needed his team back. “Shiro!”

“N-no…”

“SHIRO!” He let out a strangled cry as he surged upright. Allura saw the twinkle of tears on his eyelashes; and leapt forward before she could think otherwise. Shiro gasped when she slid to her knees and wrapped both arms around his shoulders.

“What….? Allura?”

Thank the ancients he had recognized her. “You were dreaming,” Allura mumbled into the crook of his neck where she had hidden her face. Shiro relaxed marginally, lightly reaching up to cup the back of her head and neck. His palms were warm and calloused from fighting, like her father’s. They were also trembling. 

“I guess I was,” he whispered back.

“We’ll bring them back, Shiro, I promise,” she said, though it was almost cruel to give him false hope. When they retrieved the Paladin’s, would they even be alive? Shiro’s grip on her tightened, then released.

“We have too,” he sighed once. “Do you have a plan, by any chance?”

“If they haven’t traded the other Paladins to the Galra, that means there’s hope. They’re waiting for something.”

“But what?”

Allura heaved another sigh. “I think we need to go to the planet’s surface and find out. As much as I admire all your grand plans of rescue and escape, I don’t think they’ll be enough this time,” Shiro nodded, cheek pressed against the top of her head. They had never been this close before, but it was somehow comfortable.

Shiro was, by default of having been chosen by The Black Lion, her second in command. Allura couldn’t have asked for better, but their relationship had so far been professionally friendly. He was more of a father figure to the other Paladins than her, but they were friends. Siblings, in a sense. The two elder siblings.

And their little ones were missing.

“And if they _have_ traded them to The Galra?”

Allura swallowed painfully. “Shiro… How long do humans live on your planet?” She asked softly. Shiro pushed her away gently; but kept his hands on her shoulders.

“It depends. The oldest person was 110, I think. Why?” Allura paled.

“On Altea, we can live up to 200 years before we begin feeling the affects of age. So, the other Paladins, they are… They _are_ children, aren’t they?” Shiro cringed.

“Not quite, but… Practically. They’re young.”

Allura’s stomach clenched. She backed away, suddenly sickened by herself. “So, I have recruited children into a war where they could be tortured and killed?” She clarified darkly.

“No, Allura!” Shiro breathed, squeezing her hand. “You didn’t know. You only woke up and knew that we were Paladins. This is on me. I knew how young the others were, and I’ve been calling the shots since day one,” Shiro spat. “I got them into this, and if anything happens to them… I just… I don’t even know how I could live with myself…” His voice cracked. Allura shushed him.

“We _will_ find them,” she reiterated. She stood, offered him her hand. “Come. I’ll wake Coran and let him know where we’re going.” Shiro took her hand and leveled himself up, something hopeful shining in his eyes.

“Where are we going?”

Allura pursed her lips. “To find the rebel’s headquarters. We’ll scope out the area and see if we can find anything,” she said. Shiro arched a brow.

“Without the cloak?” He asked. Allura hesitated. She knew how much they were risking flying into the atmosphere completely unshielded… She glanced at Shiro’s despondent eyes and nodded.

“We don’t have a choice. The Black Lion is our safest choice. Coran can keep look out from here, and Slav will keep working on the cloaking device. I won’t waste one more tick on this ship,” Shiro nodded eagerly.

“I’m right behind you.”


End file.
